Repression And Awakening

iMargaret Drabble is a famous modern and contemporary novelist in the British literary field.In her works,attention is paid to British intellectual women’s fate and life.The Red Queen published in 2004 was considered as the best one among her later works.As a new experimental novel,The Red Queen,with the limitation of time and space broken,explores the living predicament of modern people through the ghost which links the past and the present.Up till now,this novel has been studied from multiple aspects by critics and scholars at home and abroad.However,it has rarely been researched from the spatial theory.Therefore,this thesis attempts to use spatial criticism—Lefebvre’s spatial theory and tries to interpret the two heroines’ self-discovery,self-adaption and self-awareness from physical space,social space and psychological space separately.The thesis includes an introduction,three chapters and a conclusion.Chapter Ⅰ introduces briefly the life and literary career of Margaret Drabble,the focus of the study,the literature review about The Red Queen,the purpose and significance of this thesis and the spatial turn and Lefebvre’s spatial theory.Chapter Ⅱ focuses on transference of physical space.The Ancient times analyses social meaning behind transference of space and women’s repression in the space.The Modern times discusses social significant and space settings and women’s rebellion against the spatial repression in the different times.The Post-modern times explores the profound social meanings and seeks for the real freedom in the global space.Chapter Ⅲ concentrates on social space which is divided into two parts: men’s dominated repression and women’s resistance.The first part analyses how the different characters are dominated and disciplined by social relationships run by power.The second part explores Barbara’s intrusion for the male space and her resistance against the repression on the women.Chapter Ⅳ discusses the psychological space which includes the psychological growth and development of the Red Queen and Barbara.After resisting against different plights and circumstances,the characters are gradually awakened,and their own choices convert dilemmas into new chances.In the face of repressed life,the Queen understands how to pursuit the self-defense stage by stage,her inner choices make herself to resist against patriarchal suppression successfully.While Barbara turns the plights into the new opportunity,her inner choices help herself to confront the plights,which make her to reconstruct the identity of subjectivity.ChapterⅤsummarizes the whole thesis and points out the two women’s self-selection,self-adaption and self-awareness in the different times,which help people to reconsider the female existence in the future.Indeed,in this novel,Margaret Drabble no longer restricts the female fortune.The theme and perspective in The RedQueen helps to explore the lives of ordinary people,even the whole mankind.